It's bye-bye (and good riddance) to anti-abortion and anti-gay activist Bill Whatcott, who is calling it quits in Canada.

The social conservative activist (and his ministry) has an extensive history of Canadian legal battles and human rights complaints.

In 2003, his nursing license was suspended in Saskatchewan and he was fined $15,000 for protesting at a planned parenthood clinic. The ruling was overturned by an appeals court and the Supreme Court of Canada.

In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled his pamphlets were in fact hate speech. (Examples of his flyers are included in appendix B of the Supreme Court judgment.)

He was arrested in April 2014, along with Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, at the University of Regina. They continued to distribute leaflets against homosexuality and abortion after being asked to leave the campus by officials. However, he was found not guilty of mischief.

He's held protests against censorship on campuses across the country, including at the University of Alberta, University of Saskatchewan, Carlton University, and University of British Columbia.

In a demonstration of what extremes he was willing to go to in spreading his message, he infiltrated the 2014 Vancouver Pride parade disguised in pink hair and pretending to be a member of the Calgary Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster while handing out anti-gay flyers (disguised as condoms).

According to his own blog post on March 10, Whatcott said he spent his last days in Canada here in B.C. distributing flyers entitled "Imagine Defunding the CBC" in Kamloops and East Vancouver.

He also stated that he spent time with his ex-gay friend and his dad. By his own admission, he stated that "it is possible as my Dad sat there and listened to us that he just figured me and my choice of friends is nuts".

Whatcott is relocating to the Philippines with his wife, Joni.

In his blog post, he also admits his failure to achieve his goals: "I have to concede defeat in my primary objectives of securing a robust level of free speech for my social conservative brethren and in activating large numbers of Christians to take a public stand against the homosexual agenda."

See also

Comments

21 Comments

Fat Guy

Mar 13, 2015 at 3:24pm

Well in fact, he did exercise his right to free speech quite vigorously, in such an aggressive and nasty way that people found him utterly offensive. And despite this brilliant strategy, he failed to gain friends and supporters. Who could have predicted that Canadians would refuse to join his hate campaign? Don't let the door hit you in the .... on the way out, Bill.

Huh

Mar 13, 2015 at 5:43pm

Why do these right-wing nut jobs always think their freedom of speech is somehow taken away? We all have freedom of speech while standing on Canadian soil, but we also have freedom to disagree. Good riddance, eh!

Funk Hunter

Val

out at night

Mar 16, 2015 at 10:18am

People like Whatcott are probably suffering from one or more deep-seated problems that could help explain their behaviour. Maybe he is attracted to men and his upbringing is such that he simply cannot reconcile this, so he goes as far in the other direction as he can. Perhaps he is a victim of childhood sexual abuse and this is his way of dealing with that. Maybe he was well and truly brain-washed by experts of religious indoctrination at some vulnerable point in his life and that sent him on his path. You can imagine what it might take - what kind of profound clarity or epiphany - to put someone like him off his course and actually cause him to question his own methods and beliefs. If the guy is this far down his path, such a turnaround is unlikely to occur, ever.

I tend not to take folks like Whatcott at face value. I more or less assume there's something hidden, something they themselves aren't consciously aware of, that governs their actions. I'm sure we are all to some extent steered by inner forces beyond our own everyday understanding. I'm sure I am. What is tragic is that a guy like this is causing so much damage and heartache when maybe a good shrink and possibly a nice encounter with a nice fella might be all it takes to make him see the error of his ways.

The Baby Jesus

Mar 16, 2015 at 12:55pm

While I'm glad to see him go and find his views repugnant, there ARE limits to free speech in Canada - meaning that we don't actually have free speech here. Anti-hate speech laws, while I certainly agree with the motivation that created them, are anti-free speech. If we do not permit free expression for the opinions we find most odious then how, exactly, are we supporting free speech?

Even the worst dictator supports the free expression of opinions he agrees with.

Yes, I understand the inclination to want to shut these kinds of people up. But this is a slippery slope. How long will it be until these anti-hate speech laws are manipulated or added to in such a way to impact the expression of YOUR opinions?

These are precisely the same dynamics at work with Bill C-51: Legitimate concerns being twisted into an abuse of our freedoms.

Ho Hum

Mar 16, 2015 at 2:46pm

Hey Baby Jesus, Don't expect the extreme left to be any different from the extreme right. Bigotry, sexism, racism, etc. can come from any direction. What's funny to me is to watch the extreme left wingers with their self righteousness. They actually think they have all the answers and they know how everyone should live. Yep, they are the tea party of Canada.